Hospice and Palliative Care

Overview

Palliative Care

The goal of palliative medicine is to provide the best quality of life for patients with a serious illness or condition. Our palliative care team is made up of doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains and other highly-trained specialists who will care for your loved one’s entire well-being — mind, body and spirit.

Palliative and hospice care are similar but different. They both focus on comfort care and pain management, but hospice services are for patients approaching the last stages of life, while palliative care is for patients in any stage of illness. Palliative care can be given at the same time as treatments intended to cure a disease.

Palliative Care Services We Offer

Pain relief

Symptom management

Comfort care

Emotional, social and spiritual support

Guidance with difficult treatment choices

Caregiver support

Hospice Care

Hospice care at Mercy Health brings comfort to patients in the last stages of an incurable disease and helps them live as fully as possible. Hospice differs from palliative care, which is for patients in any stage of a serious or life-limiting illness. A doctor’s referral is needed to begin receiving hospice services. Care is given by expert doctors, nurses and staff who manage symptoms, reduce pain and meet patients’ needs with dignity and compassion. Hospice care is provided anywhere the patient calls home, such as:

Their own home

A nursing home or long-term care facility

An assisted living facility

A hospital

A hospice center

We believe life’s final stages are where some of its most precious moments are shared. Our compassionate team focuses on giving expert care so that you can focus on treasuring the time spent with your loved one.

Hospice Care Services We Offer

24-hour inpatient hospice care

Home hospice care

Pain and symptom management

Emotional and spiritual support for patients and families

Daily doctor visits

Personal hygiene care

Grief counseling and support groups

Bereavement services

Why Choose Mercy Health?

At Mercy Health, we know that our patients are so much more than patients. They’re moms and dads, husbands and wives, sisters, brothers and friends. We care for patients’ entire well-being — physical, emotional and spiritual — as we deliver hospice services to enrich their remaining months of life and ensure they’re as peaceful and comfortable as possible. We also are dedicated to supporting families during this deeply personal journey, offering grief counseling and bereavement services.

Our palliative care teams help reduce pain and symptoms as much as possible, while providing a support system to help family and friends cope with their loved one’s illness. And we respect the sacredness of life as we deliver care with dignity, kindness and compassion.